The Rising of The Masked Hero

23. ISLAND

"So this is Cal Mira!" said Raphtalia in excitement.

"It's hot here! The sun's blazing!" said Filo.

"Yeah? it's like last night's storm never happened!"

Marius looked around the town of Cal Mira, its local structures were foreign to Marius.

They then heard sickly moan coming beside them. They turned their heads and saw Motoyasu beind carried on a stretcher by his party member.

"Th-This isn't what it looks like, Filo-tan. There's a reason..." Motoyasu croaked.

"That you cannot handle Poseidon's ocean?" said Marius.

"Shut up..."

He was then followed by two more sicked heroes who were also carried on their stretchers.

"Welcome." greeted a man standing infront of them. "My name is Habenburg, and I govern the Cal Mira Archipelago."

Marius noticed the man's strange clothing. Something he never seen before, much like some of the clothes he saw on Melromarc.

Habenburg then escorted the heroes to the main town.
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"It's okay to travel between islands by boat. Try to kill as many monsters as possible. Avoid barging into any adventurer's battles to steal their prey." Naofumi said, reading the rules.

"Must there be rules on battles?" said Marius.

"Sounds like a guide to MMO etiquette."

"Well, rules will be useless once the fires of battle took over."

"Right..." Naofumi and the rest looked at the totem before them "This is a statue of the original inhabitants who developed these islands?"

"And there's apparently an epigraph left by a Cardinal Heroes." said Raphtalia.

"It's magical writing." said Naofumi. He extended his arm at the writings on the stone. "As source of thy power, the Shield Hero order thee. Decipher this message and energize my target."

With the magical powers on his hands, Naofumi presented his hands at Filo. "Zweit Aura." The green energy from Naofumi's hands transfered to Filo.

"Oh, I feel more powerful now." Filo readied herself, and with all her strenght she jumped higher than she ever did in her human form. While the three on the ground looked up, Filo could see as far as her eyes can see while in mid-air.

"Mask Guy!" Filo shouted as she was pulled back down by gravity.

Marius prepared both his arms to catch his little lover, and Filo landed on his arms. "Enjoyed the view?"

"A hero of the past left this here, huh? So the legends was true." said Naofumi.

"Hey! Shield Kiddo!" came a familiar male voice. "Filo sure got some height on that. It helped us find you guys. But man, why'd you get off the boat without saying goodbye? That's so cold." said L'arc.

"Why? Should I have to?" said Naofumi.

"Hey, company can make or break a trip. Beside, you never said you'd level up with us or not."

"And where's your other friend?" said Marius.

"We all just got here." said Therese. "She wanted to do her own thing while we still get our bearings, but yeah."

"But I'll try convincing her to join us once we find her. She's a strong warrior too." said L'arc.

"I don't mind, but we'll cut you off if you hold us back." said Naofumi.